ForumsThe Halfcourt Trap Vol. I, No. 34.
With all eyes of the college basketball world focused on the sport’s showcase weekend in San Antonio, here’s what’s on the Trap’s mind.
1. Rock Chalks, Including Jayhawks. This season began with a rash of upsets. Gardner-Webb over Kentucky, Mercer over USC, and Grand Valley State over Michigan State to name a few. Many people proclaimed this as evidence that parity had arrived in college basketball. Those statements proved to be premature. The preseason Top 25 edition of the Trap had the following teams in the top 4 slots: 1. UCLA, 2. North Carolina, 3. Memphis, and 4. Kansas. I didn’t see a single preseason poll where one of those four teams was out of the Top 10. Upsets are more frequent in the regular season than they used to be, but when it comes time to hand out hardware it’s safe to assume the big boys will be the ones battling it out.
2. Restoring The Roar. Loyola Marymount was once the dominant program in the WCC. Their fast paced style brought national attention to the underexposed league. Then, tragedy, graduation, and the defection of Paul Westhead combined to toss the program into the ashbin of irrelevance. Now, with the shrewd hiring of Bill Bayno, the Lions are poised to return to prominence. Gonzaga will soon have another team pounding at the castle doors.
3. Mr. Crean Scubs IU’s Reputation. Despite what appeared to be initial indecisiveness on its part, the Indiana administration hit, if not a home run, at least a run scoring triple with the hiring of Tom Crean. The Hoosiers get a coach with both the resume and the integrity that program desperately needed.
4. Job Fair. With the NABC conference going on in San Antonio, it’s time for ADs in search of coaches to really get down to business. LSU should be the program best positioned to make a big time hire. The Tigers have a good returning nucleus, fertile recruiting base, and the exposure that comes from playing in the SEC. Anything short of a proven, big time winner being hired should be coinsidered a failure in Bayou Country.
5. Desert Fury. By all accounts, the professional divorce between Lute Olsen and Kevin O’Neill was far nastier than the split between Lute and his wife. This entire mess should be a cautionary tale. Olsen, desperate to regain his program’s stature, brought in a guy with major college and NBA head coaching experience and expected him to act as subserviantly as a grad assistant. O’Neill, looking to position himself for a return to college basketball’s upper echelon, came in and expected a legend to sit idly by while he tried to dismantle a team and rebuild it in his own image. Marriages borne out of desperation are generally bad ideas.
6. Stillwater Runs Dry? Sure, Sean Sutton hadn’t set the world on fire his first two seasons. Sure, T. Boone Moneybags has unlimited cash to toss to the OSAD. That said, did nobody in Stillwater pay attention to what happened to Arkansas last year? Simply having nice facilities and money to burn doesn’t insure the hiring of a top flight coach. If the Pokes can’t lure Bill Self home or convince Billy Gillispie that the Big XII is really where he beongs, they are courting danger. Firing the scion of a coaching legend and replacing him with a Peplhreyesque coach would be the defintion of a shortsighted, foolhardy move.
Til next week, stay classy, Volnation.
